In My Arms
by Zimithrus1
Summary: Cloud Strife, Savior of the planet, Delivery boy, Hero...Father? Coming across an abandoned baby, he decides to take it in. But as it grows, strange stuff begins to happen. Zack and Aerith come back, and whatever the child imagines, it happens. All is fine and dandy, until the fallen Shinra company finds out... Light CloTi and Zerith, Post AC :)
1. Chapter 1: Not As Usual

_And then there was another one, and by that, I mean another story XD Man, there is just no stopping my frieght train of an imagination, huh? Anyhow, I'm happy you clicked on this story, even just thinking "Eh, why not?" So are you ready for another adventure? Because here it comes!_  
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_~X[Chapter 1: Not As Usual]X~_

There was one of two ways that Cloud Strife was woken up in the morning. One was an alarm clock on the nightstand beside his messy queen sized bed that would play Vivid by Fairy Fore, and the other was having a ten and six year old jump up and down on his bed and shouting his name, telling him to get up or he'd be late. Today, it was option number two. He only knew that becuase of the childish laughter, and the bed feeling as if it was a piece of driftwood caught in the ocean current.

He groaned loudly, a silent way of begging for at least five more minutes, if anything, it only stopped the jumping, it didn't stop the giggles from the two children.

"Wake up! Wake up!" The girl cried, lightly shaking his shoulder.

Cloud slowly opened his eyes. He really wished he still had a lock on his door right about now.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" The girl said with a big and bright smile.

She had herself sitting on her hands and knees on his right side, to his left was the boy, just smiling and laughing along. Cloud slowly sat up and stretched, but not for very long before he was tackle hugged by the girl, very tightly might he add.

"Ease up Marlene, not so early in the morning." Cloud said in the middle of a yawn as he rubbed his eyes again.

"Hey, it's the only way we can ever get you out of bed you not-morning person!" Marlene exclaimed with a cheery grin.

Cloud looked over at the boy with an all knowing look.

"Hey, it wasn't me this time. Marlene suggested it." He defended, thowing his hands up as a silent gesture.

Cloud's Mako blue eyes slowly rolled over to glance at the clock, the time read seven fourty-eight. He groaned. Usually his alarm would let him sleep til eight at least. Not today aparently.

"Why are you two so energetic in the morning?" Cloud drawled, fighting back another yawn but to no avail.

"I don't know?" Marlene spoke, unsure of her answer before going back to smiling again.

"Okay, you two need to leave so I can change." The blonde said, jerking his head to the direction of the door.

"How do we know you're not going to go back to sleep?" Marlene asked, her tone being suspicious of Cloud's true motives.

The man rolled his eyes and started to undress. The girl squeaked and clamored off the bed and scurried to the door. Denzel only giggled a bit before following her to the door. They both left the room and shut the door behind them. Cloud smirked, then got comfortable in his sleepwear again and he laid down. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he promptly heard,

"Get back out of bed and get ready Cloud! Or else no breakfast for you!" That voice belonged to Tifa, that was for sure.

The blonde groaned louder this time, and regretfully started to get ready against his will. But his stomach thought differently, and demanded that it wasn't going to go without breakfast. Once he had gotten dressed he left his room, not even bothing to fix his hair that he knew was more everywhere than usual right now. Damn bedhead. It made him really look like a chocobo. He groggily made his way down the stairs and into the bar of the new remodeled Seventh Heaven. They had to relocate when Meteor destroyed the old one.

Denzel and Marlene were eating some cereal at their own table, the girl playing more with her food than eating it. Tifa emerged from the back, carrying bowls full of cereal, and two plates with buttered bread.

"Good morning Cloud. Sleep well?" She asked with a smile as she set the plates and bowls onto the table where the kids were eating.

"Yeah, I guess. Until I had two alarm clocks jumping on my bed...Again." The blonde said with a smirk as he sat himself at the table and pulled a bowl of cereal towards himself.

"Hey, what kind of cereal did you get?" Marlene asked as she looked into his bowl. "Fruit Loops, same as you." he replied, shoveling a bite of the milk soaked cereal into his mouth as he chewed slowly.

"Oh! I learned a new word to use instead of chewing! Wanna hear?" Denzel asked as Tifa sat herself down and proceeded to eat as well.

"Shoot." Cloud said, giving him eye contact to show he was paying attention.

"It's called masticating! Fancy huh?" He said. He looked quite proud of the new word he learned.

But Cloud's eyes widened and he promtly dropped the spoon into the bowl of cereal, his hand hovering over as if he had never dropped the cutlery in the first place.

"Um, not that M word." Tifa said with a chuckle, while Marlene was confused and demanded an explination.

"Oh." Cloud replied, glad that he heard what Denzel said was not what he was thinking.

He picked his spoon back up and continued to munch away at the cereal. This was some family. If one could call it that. Even if none of those kids were his, it didn't matter. You don't have to be related by blood to care for someone and look after them, it's what you felt for them that matters. Cloud glanced up at the clock in the bar, and the time read eight twelve. He remembered he had a few deliveries to make today. Even though he wished he could just take the Saturday off just this once. He was only halfway finished with his breakfast, but one of the deliveries was out to that crazy lady in sector 9.

Ever since Midgar had been rebuilt, they added two more sectors, 0 and 9. They actually were able to come up with some new names for them to. Just simple little names. But this was not the time for a geography lesson, he had to get going. He stood up from the table and headed to the door, where three packages sat and waited to be delivered.

"Aww! You're leaving already?" Marlene whined with her mouth full of cereal.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Tifa warned. The girl swallowed almost immediatly.

"You usually don't leave until eight thirty." Denzel brought up, sipping the remainder of the milk from the bottom of the bowl.

"I have to make a delivery to the crazy lady in sector nine by eight thirty." Cloud responded as he looked back at them all.

"Oh, okay." Denzel said, getting why he had to leave so early.

"Can we get a hug?" Marlene asked, giving a small little pout as her chocolate eyes glistened with hope.

Tifa chuckled at the innocence of the request. Cloud made his way back over to the table and gave Marlene a quick hug.

"Okay! Now Denzel!" She said with a big smirk.

Cloud smirked and shook his head, but gave him one too anyway. He smiled and Marlene flashed him a thumbs up.

"Alright, I have to get going now. I don't feel like getting yelled at today." The blonde said as he went back to the front door.

He gathered up the packages in one hand and opened the front door with his other. "Be back in awhile." He said before he shut the door behind him.

The city air seemed clean and refreshing today. The first signs of spring were popping up in certian places this time of year. The world was warm, and the wind was cool, the perfect weather. it seems that after Sephiroth had been defeated once and for all, the weather got warmer, and some vegitation began to grow soon afterwards. It just felt, welcoming to be living here. For once, Cloud wasn't scared of loosing everything like he was in the past.

He blinked and continued on his way, the warm sun beaming down on his back as he walked to a nearby storage unit. He fished out a set of keys from his pocket and hit a small green button on one of them. The door to his unit opened up slowly, revealing Fenrir, his motercycle. He secured the packages to the back before getting on and revving the engine. He remembered to pull out hisgoggles before driving away to sector 9. The drive was very enjoyable. The traffic was light and the weather was nice. The wind whipped through his hair and ruffled the loose fabric on his clothes. He enjoyed the ride. At one point, for just a split second he closed his eyes at a stoplight. Even his memories were warm like the spring. Everything was alright, Aerith hadn't blamed Cloud, but told him it was alright. Zack had helped him through that last battle with Sephiroth, even though he thought he was done for. All he needed was a reminder, that he still was the raven haired man's living legacy. Although, he didn't deny the fact that he missed them both terribly. he wished they didn't have to die. One for the very company he worked for, and the other by his childhood hero. Both situations were probably the perfect definition of the word 'Ironic'.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he arrived at the crazy lady's house. If only she could stop ordering things and let old age take her. That would make things easier on him, and her too. He turned Fenrir off and took the right package from the others. he strode up to the door of the small, and quite lonely looking house. He rapped on the door at precicely eight thirty. The door swung open before he could even complete his third knock.

"Well, well Sonny. Looks like you were on time today." She rasped.

Her damamged white hair looked like straw hanging infront of her dull silver eyes. She looked as is her had all the life sucked from her viens, but they do say that it's the fiesty ones that are the last to die.

"I made sure I was Ma'am. Here's your package." Cloud said, gently offering it over to her. She quickly took it and inspected the box.

"Hmm, and you did a fine job keeping it in one piece, I don't even see a fold or dent." She said, looking back up at him, her eyes holding some spark of life somehow.

"I figured you'd appriciate your package in good condition." Cloud honestly replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh! There you go again! Stand up straight Sonny! Makes you look older! I don't care of your the savior of the planet or not, around me, you will have the proper posture! Oh, you'll thank me for this one day. Keep on slouchin' and your back'll be as twisted as mine." She warned, pointing a finger at him.

"Yes Ma'am." Cloud responded, straightening up some.

"Good gravy! What's with your clothing? All this punkish stuff you kids wear these days...I swear..." She mumbled to herself some.

"Well, you take care Mrs. Prihce." Cloud said before he turned on his heel and walked back to the direction of Fenrir.

"And do something about that hair too!" She called before shutting the door softly. Cloud shook his head. Thank Gaia she didn't give him hell like last time and nearly beat his with her notorious frying pan. He started Fenrir back up and continued to make his deliveries. His other cilents wern't as crazy as old Mrs. Prihce, nor were they as old as her too. She had to be at least, what, 98 years old? It seems as though she wasn't going to die anytime soon either. Cloud figured he'd be making her deliveries until HE was old and gray.

There was only one client as bad as Mrs. Prihce, and that was Annette Inyagard. She had this strange obsession with boys ten to twenty years younger than her and always made passes and advances on Cloud. She freaked him out and would rather be in Posture 101 with Mrs. Prihce as his instructor.

His other client, and last delivery of the day, was Penelope, but absolutely refused to be called that. The only name you could call her was 'Pancake'. Okay, never mind. All of Cloud's clients were weird in some form or another. After he finished his delivery at Penelope's house he started on his way back home, still in one piece.

The skies had grown cloudy and dark, the weather preparing for a small spring shower, actually, this spring shower was a normal occurance since Sephiroth was defeated. Cloud had to have sworn this rain came from Aerith. it was the same rain that cured the Geostigma and filled some of the church to this day. It smelled sweet, and felt even more refreshing than a cool rain in a blistering summer. By the time he parked Fenrir in his storage unit the rain was already soming down. It wasn't heavy enough to cause people to be screaming as they ran through the rain, but it wasn't a misty rain. The perfect little sprinkle in Cloud's opinion.

He was pretty happy to be back right now, he was a little early, and this means he'd get to eat a decent lunch, besides constant fast food. As he headed out of the unit and closed the door. He saw a blonde haired woman pause by a building across from the storage unit. She looked all around. Her long golden blonde hair becoming more of a nusiance to her than anything. She then ran on, seeming to be in quite the hurry. Cloud craned his head out a little further so he could watch her. It's not just every day you see someone that young running around as if they were lost, or running from something.

She looked to the left, then the right, then down, the took off in the left direction. Cloud was perplexed at her odd behavior, so he decided to follow behind her at a safe distance. He took a couple of seconds before he took the same left she did. He saw her pause in the middle of the sidewalk, look to the building beside her, shake her head, then continue on down the street. Where was she going? Was she aware she was headed towards the ruins of the old Midgar? It was pretty dangerous around that area. He wanted to go back and get his sword, but didn't want to loose the woman. So he continued to follow her at a good pace.

His hunch ended up being right. She had ran all the way to old Midgar. She looked around, then ran into the ruins of what used to be the old sector 5 slums. Cloud continued to follow, the rain still sprinkling and still refreshing as he continued his stealthy pursuit. He saw the woman run into the old church, looking pleased with the place she had found. He approached the side of the church, and stood there, out of sight.

The woman was only in there for a few minutes before she came rushing back out. She looked to the left and the right, then hurried off in a faster sprint than before, as if a weight had been removed from her person. Cloud blinked and took a peak inside the church. What did she do in there? Run in and run out? That was a terrible reason.

He stepped into the rotting church. This was one of the only structures left ever made out of wood. Everything else was made out of steel and reinforced metal. The wood was still rotting in the same places since when he had last seen it, and that hole in the roof where both he and Zack crashed from years ago still remain, letting natural sunlight wash in and make the pond of Aerith's holy water glisten like a sea of diamonds. Although today the glistening was dim in the rain.

He continued his walk into the church. The old Buster sword still in place, embeded into the soil behind the creamy yellow flowers. When Cloud used to come here, he could have sworn he saw Zack and Aerith dancing to a slow musicbox kind of song. He blinked and the memory was gone. He looked around for a moment. Everything was still in place, nothing looked upset or disturbed. Not even the dust look touched. He shrugged silently to himself and turned on his heel, but a small little weak cry stopped him from advancing.

He turned around again. The noise echoed off the church walls, making it hard to pinpoint where the sound had come from. That same cry echoed again, moreover on the left side, close to the flowers. What could it be? He took slow steps, following the point at which the noisey cries were the loudest. He ended up by the patch of orange and yellow flowers. He looked to his right, nothing was there. The noise had dwindled down to what seemed to be whimpering. He looked to his left. At first he didn't see anything. Until he saw what appeared to be a corner of a blanket shift slightly.

What ever was down there, it was hidden under one of the pews by the flowers. It continued to whimper, even as Cloud stopped before it. Now he had a strange nagging feeling he knew what was left behind. He crouched down to the wood floor and peered under the pew. His eyes widened when he saw what he did. His nagging feeling was right. He gently pulled the bundle out from under it's hiding place and was looking right in the eyes of an abandoned baby. It looked to be quite young, no older than a few weeks, if that.

Its' cries immediatly stopped when it felt the presence of someone holding it. Cloud blinked once. He looked to the door of the church. He knew the woman was fully awake that she had dumped her baby off with no means of returning. So she was going to let it die? Why not put it in an orphanage or something? At least it would be more human to do it that way, rather than leaving it for dead, or the buzzards, whichever one came first.

He slowly stood up, being careful to mind the small infant wrapped up in his arms. The baby gazed up at him with eyes of turquiose blue, no longer crying. It had a head full of white blonde hair. A little towhead baby. Cloud had to admit, it was pretty cute. But what was he going to do with a baby? He didn't really feel right about leaving it on the doorstep of an orphanage. Not with those innocent eyes looking up at him like that.

He gave the little baby a quick smile, and much to his surprise, the baby smiled back, albeit a bit awkwardly due to it being so young. There was simply no way he could give it up to an orphanage, besides, what's one more orphan going to hurt anyway? He left the church, still cradling the baby gently, albeit strangely. He had never really done this before. The sprinkling had stopped and sunlight was peaking through some of the clouds. The day more cool than warm now. He carefully walked back to the Seventh Heaven.

He paused when ariving at the building. He wondered what everyone else was going say? He blinked and decided it'd be best to do it now, rather than prolong the inevitable. It was a little bit difficult to open up the front door, but he managed successful. He had to close it shut with a swift kick. The baby looked all around in awe and wonder at its' new surroundings. Its' little mouth was barely open as if in shock. There was no sign of Marlene or Denzel anywhere in the bar, and for it being a Saturday, it was completely dead.

"Cloud? Is that you?" Tifa called from upstairs.

"Yeah, it's me. You think you could come down for a minute? We need to talk." The blonde responded.

Tifa began to make her way down the steps, looking up at Cloud with a soft smile. When she saw the baby in his arms, she went shocked.

"It's a long story." Cloud responded as the baby looked at Tifa for a moment before giving a tiny smile.

"Well, We've got a lot of time before Barret gets back with the kids." Tifa said, sitting down at one of the tables.

"Where'd he take them?" Cloud asked as he also took a seat.

"I'll tell you after you tell me your story." She replied, her eyes glancing to the blue eyes baby. It was so weird.

Tifa knew Cloud hadn't fooled around with anybody, or really seen anybody since Zack died, so why did this baby look a lot like him? The blonde began to tell the story of how he was making his rounds, coming back in the rain and seeing the suspicious girl, he told her how he trailed along behind her since she was going to the old Midgar, how the woman dumped the baby in the church and how he came across it, and not having the heart to dump it at an orphanage.

The whole time he told the story, the baby never cried or whined, it just kept looking around the bar, still wrapped up in Cloud's arms.

"Hmm, I see. So you took the baby back here? But what are you going, -no- ,what are WE going to do?" Tifa asked with a little smirk. She had always wanted to raise a little baby, and seeing as there was one here right now in the arms of the boy she always had a crush on, she figured why not?

"I was thinking about raising it." Cloud replied after a moments pause.

Tifa smiled a little brighter. "Sounds good to me." She said.

The two sat there in silence, hearing nothing but the clock tick for a few moments. To say the least, it was that kind of silence that makes any situation an awkward one. "So, What's it's gender?" She asked.

Cloud looked up at her with an awkward look in his eyes. "Well, I didn't really check." He honestly replied, getting a little hot as his face slightly went a bit pink. "Okay, I'll check then." Tifa said as she held her arms out.

Cloud nodded and gently gave the baby to her. The infant whined a little bit not knowing what exactly what was going on, but when it reached Tifa's arms, it stopped whining and smiled. The brunette smiled and babbled nonsence to the baby, making it giggle while she checked. When she finished the appointed task, she folded the blanket around the baby again. She looked up at Cloud and smiled.

"It's a little girl." She said.

"Well, you certianly look happy." The blonde spoke up, noticing a joyful pink glow raidiate from her cheeks softly.

"Uh-huh! I've always wanted a little girl! What are we going to name her?" She asked, nearly all in one breath, which made Cloud chuckle to himself as he thought.

He remembered that when he was young, he was supposed to have a little sister, but she died shortly after her birth, and he had always loved her name.

"I like Maizy." He said with a quick nod of his head.

"Maizy..." Tifa repeated to herself, her eyebrows furrowing for just a moment while she thought. "I like it too, but her middle name has to be Illumise." She decided. Cloud nodded. It sounded good to him.

Now to wait and see what Marlene and Denzel would say...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: And there you have it! Chapter one is done :) I hope you guys liked it, and I hope you'll continue to read future chapters when they're posted. Anyhow, don't be afraid to drop a review, they give me motivation you know :D until next time! Ciao! :p


	2. Chapter 2: Schedual Adjustments

_Well, well! Look what we have here! An update at long -very long- last! You all probably want to throw sharp objects at me because of my disappearance huh? Well I had a case of writers block -Oh, so early on? That's not a good sign- But I have found away to beat the beast and give you this chapter! I hope you all enjoy it! :)  
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_~X[Chapter 2: Schedule Adjustments]X~_

This new lifestyle was definitely going to take some getting used to. Lots of time. Cloud thought to himself as he got up in the middle of the night for the third time, and it was his turn to get up. Maizy was crying again, and for what reason, the blonde didn't know. He had fed her and changed her, so what was with her now? He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawning loudly as he stood up and popped his back.

As he was trying to do just a little bit of waking up, Maizy only cried louder, and the sound of her hitting her rattle against the cribs railings echoed in Cloud's ears, causing him to flinch ever so slightly. Maizy had only been with them for two weeks, but the blonde wasn't used to it yet. It would take awhile, that was for sure. He flicked on a small lamp beside the bed on his side. Tifa groaned and threw the covers over her head.

Since they were raising Maizy together, they found it more conveniant to sleep in the same room. With all the extra furniture that she had brought, it nearly made navigation impossible in Cloud's newly inovated room. He was basically sharing it with three people after all. He stepped over a couple of blankets that had been kicked off in the night, and manuvered around a large dresser beside his bed before making it over to Maizy's pale yellow crib.

He peered over the rails and looked at her. She stopped crying and looked up at him. When she saw his eyes heavy with sleep, and his hair even crazier than usual, she began to giggle. For a month old baby, she was already doing things that most newborns couldn't do. She could smile and laugh already, and try to attempt sitting up on her own. She was very special and smart, apparently. Sometimes, Maizy could be a real handful for Cloud, but when he would look at that little baby, smiling up at him with those turquoise eyes glimmering like radiant gems, his heart would instantly melt at the sight, and he would drop the thought of ever thinking that this was worth it or not.

"What do you need now?" He asked, knowing well she couldn't communicate back to him, but it didn't hurt to ask anyway he supposed.

He bent over and gently picked her up, carefully cradling her in his arms as he fully stood up, looking into her beautiful eyes. Even if he had only found her three weeks ago, he was very close to her and already loved her dearly. He then realized that she didn't need to be changed, and she had been fed about an hour or two ago.

"You just wanted to wake me up, didn't you?" He cooed to her, nearly rolling his eyes in the process. She giggled again, as if to confirm his suspicions.

"Alright then, back to bed with you." He declared, laying her back down in her crib. As soon as his arms let her go, Maizy started to whimper. Cloud let out a little sigh as he smiled slightly. She just wanted attention.

For some reason, if she wanted attention, Cloud was the only one she wanted. If Tifa, Marlene, or Denzel tried to show her affection, she would just continue to cry. The blonde found this out himself when he went to make a delivery a couple of days ago. As soon as he left, Maizy began to cry. As time passed, and as the others tried to get her to stop crying, she only ended up crying louder and louder. By the time he got back from his rounds, the fussy baby was immediately handed to him, and she shut up instantly. Cloud bent back over and picked up the baby, cradling her again. Usually on nights like these, he'd have to stay awake with her for awhile, sometimes hours, before she would fall asleep in his arms. Tonight was going to be one of those nights.

"Man, you really picked a bad time. I have deliveries to run tomorrow." He chuckled to himself as he looked over at the clock. It read three twenty five.

"Okay, make that later today." He added on, rolling his eyes softly.

The blonde walked over and took a seat on a wooden rocking chair, beginning to rock back and forth on it.

_How cliché,_ he thought.

This was one of the only ways to make Maizy tired enough to fall back asleep. She always needed a little coaxing. She whined at him again, obviously telling him that this wasn't enough to make her tired.

_Oh come on, not tonight. Tifa's more than likely awake._ Cloud pleaded to himself.

But Maizy just kept whining, insistent to hear what she wanted to hear. If the baby really couldn't sleep, the blonde had to resort to last measures. Those measures being singing to her. Up to this point, Tifa had never heard him sing to Maizy, but he could tell she was awake, she kept shifting upon hearing the baby's whines and whimpers. While Cloud stalled for time, Maizy's whimpers became full blown cries. Finally crumbling, the blonde began to sing her a lullaby that his mother sang for him when he was small. A little tune about a chocobo to be exact. He felt embarrassed the whole time he was singing, constantly looking over at the bed that Tifa was laying in. She had stopped shifting, so perhaps she had fallen asleep. Realizing this, the nervousness left his voice and he sang to her normally. Within just a few seconds, Maizy was out like a light.

He exhaled softly and stood up from the chair, making his way back over to his baby's crib. He gently placed her inside and made his way back to his own bed. His side had already gone cold again an he curled himself up into a ball under many thick layers of covers.

"You have a lovely singing voice." Tifa sleepily chimed as she giggled softly.

Cloud only made a noise akin to that of an embarrassed groan and he threw the covers over his head.

_0-0- [VII] -0-0_

"Cloud! Get up! You're gonna be late!" The cheery voice of Marlene sang as she jumped up and down on his bed.

Cloud groaned loudly, and made sure the covers were tightly caressed around his body and over his hair. Why couldn't he ever get a decent night's sleep anymore? He already had four alarm clocks. Only one of those was actually a clock. The others were children and an infant.

"Yeah Cloud. Don't you have deliveries to make today?" Denzel cut in from the blonde's left side, gently shaking the lump under the covers that was said man.

He groaned again and shifted over to the right side. Marlene jumped over him and started jumping on the right side of the bed. If that wasn't enough, some noisy customers just came in the bar, laughing and whooping, then on top of that, Maizy began to cry loudly.

"Alright! I'm up! Just quit with the noise!" Cloud exclaimed so loudly that even Maizy stopped crying, and so did the clamor down in the bar below.

It was then silent for a moment while Cloud rubbed his sinuses, trying to fight off a headache due to lack of sleep the previous night. Due to Maizy, he had only gotten a mere two and a half hours of sleep. There silence still continued, nearly becoming deafening in a room that was noisier than a jack hammer just moments prior to his shouting.

"Someone's being a Mr. Grumpy Pants." Marlene teased, giggling softly some.

Then the clamor in the bar returned, but a little quieter this time, and Maizy began to whimper. Regretfully, Cloud threw off the warm blankets and stood up, stretching and popping his back like he always did when he woke up.

"Alright you two, scoot so I can get dressed." The blonde ordered, jerking his head in the direction of the door.

"What about sissy?" Marlene asked, looking over in the baby's general direction.

"I'll get to your sister in a minute. I need to get ready quickly." He responded, walking over to the closet, yanking out his usual outfit that Mrs. Prihce always seemed to despise. But hey, it was comfortable.

Then he remembered that he hadn't properly washed it since Maizy threw up on him in it. Sure he had washed it off, but it still had a hint of regurgitated milk and stomach acid. He nearly gagged and decided to finally throw it in the dirty clothes hamper. The children took this as their que to finally leave the room so the blonde man could change.

So instead of his usual outfit, he just pulled out something comfortable, yet stylish. Another one of his outfits that his elderly client hated with a fiery passion. It was a simple white and grey striped shirt, along with a black denim jacket with the symbol of the Cloudy Wolf on the back, which was that wolf medallion on his shoulder paldron on his usual outfit. Along with that was just plain black cargo pants with a numerous amount of pockets down the pant legs.

As soon as he finished getting ready, Maizy's whines turned into loud cries. Cloud turned away from the closet and up to his baby's crib, where she was looking up at him with big and teary turquoise eyes. He carefully picked her up and held her close. She continued crying, so she didn't want attention, and she smelled clean. So he figured out she was probably hungry. Noticing she was only in a diaper and her sleep shirt, he decided to get her dressed first.

He went over to the dresser on the left side of the room that held Maizy's clothes. He picked out a white dress with little flower imprints as hole in the bottom, and under the white material was a pale blue color, with a little ribbon in the back, matching the same blue color as what was under the soft white material of the dress. He also grabbed her a pair of light blue socks as well. He layed her down on his bed and removed her shirt, placing it beside her on the messy and unmade bed.

Maizy stopped crying for a moment as he cautiously slipped the garment over her head and eased her arms into the small short sleeves. He pulled the bottom down a little bit so it covered her body, ending at her knees. He then put her socks on and picked her back up. She shivered and kicked her crying back up.

"It is a little cold, huh?" He said, walking over and grabbing her pink fleece blanket from her crib. It had moogles imprinted on it.

Cloud wrapped her up in the warm blanket, her cries lessened some, but she was still hungry. He took her downstairs, where Marlene and Denzel were already eating breakfast. Tifa came out of the kitchen, smiling at first, but when she saw Cloud, she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" He questioned, passing her as he went into the kitchen to get some milk from the fridge.

"Your h-haha- your hair!" She laughed, holding her sides as she tried to catch her breath. She pointed to his hair, and laughed a little more, before adding 'It's everywhere!'

Cloud rolled his eyes and poured the milk into one of Maizy's bottles with one hand, while carrying the fussy baby in the other.

"You need some help?" Tifa asked, stifling her laughter, yet keeping an amused smile on her face.

"Nah, I got it." The blonde replied, sticking the full bottle in the microwave to heat it up a little, so it wouldn't be cold when it hit Maizy's stomach.

Speaking of, the baby was snuggled deep into the blanket she was wrapped up in, staring at the microwave and patiently waiting for her breakfast.

"Well, I'm going to finish bringing breakfast to the table, just come join us when you're done here, okay?" She said with a smirk as she quickly gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Uh, yeah." He responded, blushing faintly in the kitchen's dim lighting.

The beeping of the microwave went off. Signaling that whatever was heating up was done now. He pressed the button to open the door, and it swung open slowly. He grabbed the now warm bottle of milk, closed the microwave door, then headed out to the table that Tifa and the children were eating at.

"Tifa! Cloud looks like he has a hangover!" Marlene exclaimed, giggling childishly as she ate her cereal. Eventually, they needed to go grocery shopping. One couldn't have the same cereal day in and day out.

The blonde rolled his eyes and took a seat at the table on the chair closest to the door, where he always sat. Then he proceeded to feed his baby, whom happily ate away, pausing ever so often to smile and let milk fall out of her mouth and dribble down her cheeks and chin. She could get quite messy when she ate.

"Cloud, aren't you going to eat?" Denzel asked curiously as he looked up from his bowl of cereal.

The blonde looked up, about to answer the boy, until his eyes caught sight of the clock, reading that it was nearly eight thirty. He also remembered that the infamous Mrs. Prihce liked her deliveries at eight thirty sharp, and it was twelve til. Cloud jumped up, nearly upsetting Maizy's eating pattern, making her coo in confusion and look up at him.

"Tifa, could you finish feeding her? I can't be late, and I need to leave now. I'll eat when I get back." The blonde said, quickly handing Maizy over to her.

"Yeah, sure." The brunette said with a soft smile as she took the baby carefully.

Maizy didn't like the fact that her father had to leave her so suddenly, so she started to cry. Looks like the blonde wouldn't have any time to get halfway decent. He didn't even have time to fix his insane bed head. Tifa attempted to feed the upset baby, but Maizy just pushed the bottle aside and continued crying. She looked up and just watched Cloud run around like his head had gotten cut off. He was rushing around, grabbing his keys to Fenrir, getting his goggles for the high speed ride, and trying to find where he had placed the packages.

She giggled as he finally made his way back to the table, his face flushed in exertion, and he was huffing a little bit. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, the gave Maizy enough attention to where she stopped crying and cooed softly. He then gave Denzel and Marlene quick hugs, then hurried out the door. He ran to his storage unit and opened up the door, quickly hopping onto Fenrir. He revved up the motorcycle and quickly sped out of the garage.

He already knew he was going to be extremely late. He hoped Mrs. Prihce wouldn't break his spine or insert her famous frying pan where the sun doesn't shine. He sped through yellow lights and rolled through stop signs until he arrived at Mrs. Prihce's house. He was six minutes late. The old woman was waiting outside for him, hands on her hips with a stern expression on her face. Cloud grabbed her package and hurried up to where she was standing on her front porch.

"You're six minutes late Sonny. You better have a good reason." She said, her dull eyes narrowing into his.

"Sorry Mrs. Prihce, I only got two and a half hours of sleep last night, I kept getting woken up and-" Cloud cut himself off when Mrs. Prihce gave him some sort of all knowing smirk, then she actually giggled, even if it was dry and hoarse.

"Ah, yes I see. I know why you're late." She said, playfully pointing a finger at him as she laughed again.

The blonde looked at her, very confused on what she knew.

"I know that look. Those dark circles under your eyes, yet that shimmer of something unfamiliar in your eyes. You're raising an infant aren't you? Oh you sly dog!" She joked, taking the package from him, awhile he just blankly stared. He didn't even tell her.

"h-How did you know that?" He nearly stammered.

"Please, I was the mother of seven children. I know that look." She said, giving him a rare smile before she continued to speak. "I suppose I need to give you a break for a bit huh? So tell me Sonny, what's its gender? Name? I want details, and no skimping!" She said, smiling again.

"Um, it's a girl and her name is Maizy." Cloud replied, nearly inaudibly. He looked away as a faint blush flushed across his cheeks.

"Well, I see I've made you uncomfortable. Run along Sonny. I'm sure you have more deliveries to make." She said, taking her package and heading inside.

Wow. Mrs. Prihce just cut him some slack. That was certainly a first. He smirked as he made his way back to Fenrir. So far, finding Maizy was giving him some kind of lucky break. Not only that, but she was so adorable. He was glad he found her that day at the church.

But Cloud had no idea that his life was about to get...Interesting.


	3. Chapter 3: Grocery Shopping Plus Three

_Yay! Look who's back with another chapter of In My Arms? :D Mwah! Ah, I love this cute little story so much! And you know what else I love? All my readers! Special shout out to all of you that have read, favorited, followed, and reviewed my story! It means bunches to me! You guys are my motivation! Anyway, enough sappy author comments, how about sappy cutesy story stuff? Xp And as always, enjoy! (PS: Maizy ages about a month per chapter unless specified, just thought you guys should know ^-^)  
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_~X[Chapter 3: Grocery Shopping Plus Three!]X~_

Cloud looked through all of the cupboards, the cabinets, the dishwasher, and even the drawers in the kitchen, frantically searching for any one of Maizy's bottles. He couldn't find a single one and his little girl was crying her eyes out because she was hungry. He didn't understand where they all disappeared too, and it was aggravating him as well. This was the fifth one within a span of six days. Was there some kind of theif going around? But what kind of thief would you be if you ran around stealing baby bottles?

Cloud dismissed that theory and checked the dishwasher one more time. Nope. Still no luck. He heavily sighed and raked his hands through his hair. Maizy's cries only continued to grow louder with each passing minute. The blonde left the kitchen and into the small living room in the back of the bar, where often times the family would be when the bar was closed, which it was today. He chuckled a bit upon seeing the little towhead baby girl, face down and rear up in the air, crying into the bottom of her playpen. She was a very odd crier. Marlene and Denzel were looking at each other and grinning slyly, not to mention devious giggling.

"What are you two up to?" Cloud asked over Maizy's crying.

The children ignored his question and continued to giggle, then they looked over to their side. Cloud followed their gaze to see Tifa sitting in the middle of the brown fabricated couch. In her hands were all of Maizy's bottles.

"Tifa? What the-?" The blonde stammered, wondering why she was the thief behind all this.

"You pro-mised!" She said in a sing-song voice, arching an eyebrow triumphantly. Cloud absently blinked at her, and cocked his head to the right ever so slightly. "Come again?" He asked, his face showing that he was very puzzled, and didn't remember whatever it was he had promised her.

The brunette tsk'ed and stood up, a wide smile cracking over her face.

"You promised that you would do the grocery shopping this month. You promised that, oh I don't know, three weeks ago?" Tifa reminded, the cheery tone in her voice was all but gone, and each sentence she spoke caused her tone to get madder and madder, making the blonde take a few steps back as if she had been coming at him with a knife.

"Oh...Um, that..." The nervous blonde stammered, beginning to press his index fingers together sheepishly.

The brunette in front of him looked only annoyed at his display of behavior. Now was not the time for him to get all mock shy. He did promise her after all. Since he hadn't followed through with it, she had to resort to desperate measures, such as taking all of Maizy's bottles one by one. She didn't do it to starve her daughter, she made sure she was fed when Cloud wasn't looking. But this little game got even more amusing when Maizy suddenly stopped crying, and started laughing along with the children. Cloud looked over at her, eyes wide.

"Even the BABY was in on this!?" He cried in disbelief, gesturing to the baby with his gloved hands.

The children, plus Tifa nodded.

"Oh you are such a brat." The blonde grumbled, his eyes playfully scowling at the baby.

She giggled, as if to agree to his statement.

"Well, you better get ready, because YOU'RE GOING GROCERY SHOPPING TODAY!" Tifa exclaimed, cinders burning behind her eyes.

That immediately caused Cloud to race out of the living room for just a moment, but he returned just moments after, lifting Maizy up and out of her playpen.

"Hehe, forgot the baby." He sheepishly remarked, quickly rushing back out of the room.

"You two better get ready too. Now that we've got him going to the store, our work is done." Tifa said, giggling softly at her deed. Now she was going to have to put all the bottles back. Oh well, it was worth it to see the 'Savior of the Planet' squirm under her eyes.

As soon as Cloud made it back to his room, he shut the door behind him and let out a soft sigh, shakily his head ever so slightly. He looked down at Maizy, who was now just giving him a big toothless smile, her turquoise eyes glimmering in the dim light of mid morning rushing in through the window.

"Even if you're a brat, you're still cute." He said, giving her a soft smile.

She happily gurgled back in response and snuggled closer to him as he still held her for just a moment longer.

"Well, we'd better get ready, can't have your Mommy blowing a gasket again." He cooed, laying her down on the bed as he went over to his closet to pull out something simple to wear.

He decided on a black shirt with sleeves ending just past his elbows, and on the back was a design of a yellow fiery phoenix shooting upwards, a golden feather in it's beak with fire shooting out from his wings and tail. The words 'Raising Phoenix' were imprinted below the fire from the bird in bright red. He got this shirt at a concert a few years back, with Raising Phoenix as the main attraction. For pants, he just decided on some faded black skinny jeans, the bottom of the pants flared out and were tattered and frayed. There were holes in the knees, but black and red checkerboard patches covered the exposed skin and mended the old fabric.

He tossed his sleepwear aside, then went over to the dresser to pick out Maizy's outfit for the day. He decided on a white dress with pale yellow satin trimming on the small sleeves and end of the dress. On the chest of the dress, a large honeybee was printed on the front, and the word 'Sweet' was printed below the bee in baby pink. He also pulled out some plain white socks, and grabbed her little white velcro shoes, with bells attached to the tounge of each shoe. He changed her out of her nightdress and placed it on the bed next to her, then changed her into the outfit he picked out for her. She always looked so cute in yellow and white.

He picked her up and left his room, going down the stairs to see that the children were dressed and ready to go. Marlene had Maizy's carrier sitting on the wood floor beside her. Good thing too, Cloud would have forgotten it otherwise. He carefully put Maizy in her carrier, even if she hated the thing. She started whining upon being placed in it. She reached out her little hands towards her father and groped the air, continuing her whining. She did this every time she was placed in the carrier, and mostly, you had to look away from her. Even the quickest glance at her, and she'd burst into tears and start kicking wildly to be let out.

The blonde grabbed the keys to the family car from the bar counter that Tifa had left out for him, as well as a neatly prepared grocery list. He folded the list a couple of times and stuck it in his pants pocket. He really wished he could have taken his motorcycle, but two children, a baby, and a full grown man wouldn't all fit on a motorcycle, nor would it be safe if they could. They all headed out of the bar and over to the storage unit, where the car also was. In fact, it was in the same unit number as Fenrir, but the blonde just paid no mind to it most of the time. Probably because it was a tacky looking red minivan.

"Shotgun!" Denzel cried, rushing towards the front passenger seat.

"Nu-uh! I called dibs last week!" Marlene protested, rushing up to her brother's side.

"You can't call dibs on shotgun! You can only call shotgun on shotgun!" He argued back, putting his hand on the handle to open the door.

Marlene stopped him with a little shove, sticking her tounge out at him. Then he shoved her back. The two were bickering at each other and fighting over who got to sit in the front seat.

"Both of you, quiet!" Cloud ordered, his tone harsh and demanding.

The children stopped their fighting and looked up at him, nearly innocently as if they had never been squabbling in the first place.

"You two are both going to sit in the back with your sister, and that's final!" The blonde ordered, his eyes stern and showing no mercy.

The two only silently nodded and clamored into the back seats. Marlene placed herself in the middle, knowing if she fought for a window seat, she'd get scolded again. One scolding was enough for her today. Denzel rolled his eyes and climbed over her, wishing he had gotten in first so he wouldn't have to maneuver over the six-year-old girl. The carrier, plus baby, was sat into the last seat next to the window, and was buckled in securely. She had stopped crying, but now she was being bratty and kicking wildly, scowling as she did so.

"You behave too." Cloud told her, lightly tapping his index finger against the tip of her little nose. With that, she stopped scowling and giggled, putting her hands up to her face as if she was trying to hide.

The blonde closed the door, then went around to the driver's side of the tacky minivan. He opened up the door and situated himself in the seat, before closing the door and putting the keys in the ignition. The machine started up with a few sputs, then a loud roar. The AC kicked up and blew cool air onto his unsuspecting face, causing him to blink a couple of times. Music softly floated through the inside of the van. He reached down to the floor, where the shifter was located.

He put the car out of park and into drive, then slowly pulled out of the storage unit. Gaia he really hated this big bulky thing. He turned onto the street and sped up to reach the posted speed limit of forty five. They had only gotten about five to ten minutes into peaceful driving until karma said:

_"Hey! Let's screw everything up!"_

Meaning, this was definitely not one of Cloud's good days. Some teenager with the music blasting too loud quickly turned out onto the street, nearly causing an accident if the blonde hadn't punched the brake suddenly.

"Hey! Get your head out of your ass!" He exclaimed, honking at the disrespectful kid, whom just ignored him and sped off, going well over ten miles over the speed limit. "_OOOHH!_ Cloud! You said a _bad_ word!" Marlene said, pointing at him as her voice grew in crescendos and decrescendos, adding emphasis to her sentence.

Maizy began to gurgle and clap her hands, obviously amused with the whole situation, even if she was facing the wrong way to see what happened. The blonde just rolled his eyes. He just wished today could just be over with already. Now he knew what Tifa had to endure. He wondered how she did it, and remained sane in the process. He wished he had twenty-five deliveries to make right now. Any kind of delivery would be better than what he was doing right now.

After fifteen more minutes of disrespectful drivers, and a few close calls, the ragtag group of four finally made it to the large supermarket in the middle of town. This was the only store you could get quality products from. The markets downtown were all but shady to say the least. The market near the bar wasn't bad, but they didn't have any food stores. As soon as the large van died down and the key was removed from ignition, the children jumped out of the van, stretching their legs and breathing in the fresh air.

Cloud stepped out of the vehicle and shut the door behind him. "You ready?" He asked, beginning to lead the way.

"Um Cloud? Aren't you forgetting something?" Denzel asked him, looking over towards the red minivan they had just left.

The blonde turned around, his gaze landing on the vehicle, then his mako tinted eyes widened. "Crap! I left Maizy in there!" He exclaimed, hurrying back to the right side of the van.

He unlocked the door and unfastened the carrier from the seat. The little baby just looked at him with a playful grin. She pointed at him, then began to laugh loudly, as if saying _'Daddy's a dummy!'_. He chuckled to himself as he removed the carrier from the van, relocking the doors and walking back to where the children were standing. Marlene was giggling, with her small hands covering her mouth as she did so. Denzel just gave him a soft smile, knowing that if he tried to say anything he'd probably end up laughing as well.

"Come on you two." Cloud addressed, taking the lead up to the supermarket.

The two children fell into even stride with him, Denzel on his left, and Marlene on his right. Using his free hand, the blonde took the list out of his pocket, quickly scanning over the items they needed. It wasn't too much, thank Shiva. The small group entered the market, the bright fluorescent lights blaring silently from above, lighting the rather large building from front to back and side to side. The blonde grabbed the first basket he found, getting right to work and ignoring the fact that the damned contraption kept pulling to the left.

Maizy's carrier was placed in the front of the basket, while Marlene and Denzel jumped up and rode on the sides of the cart. The boy's weight evened out the cart's pulling to the left and made it drive normally.

"Alright, first on the list is bread..." Cloud muttered, quietly going over the list, while his wheat blonde eyebrows scrunched in deep thought as he read over the list.

Good thing Tifa had eligible handwriting, even in cursive. All of the children were well behaved as things on the list were scratched off one by one. He was very appreciative of their good behavior, unlike children that yell, scream, and walk off on multiple occasions. They stayed on or right beside the basket. In fact, they were so well behaved, he figured he could treat them with something. When the grocery shopping was done and they were fixing to go to the checkout stand, he noticed all three of the children looking past the toy aisle.

"Why don't you two go pick something out? You earned it." He said, giving them both small smiles.

"Really? Cool! Thanks Cloud!" Denzel exclaimed, dashing off in a hurry.

"Yeah! Thanks!" Marlene seconded, running off to follow the boy she saw as an older brother.

Maizy then whined, giving her father a big puppy dog pout. She wanted something too after all.

"I didn't forget about you." Cloud stated, lovingly brushing his thumb across her cheek, retaining a fair amount of baby fat.

The little baby smiled and cooed, content with the affection she was being given. The blonde rolled the nearly full cart into the baby aisle, so Maizy could find something she wanted. He paused in front of the stuffed animals. The little girl didn't own any and they made good cuddle companions on lonely nights. Maizy's turquoise eyes scanned over the colorful animals displayed across the shelves, having a tough time deciding on which one she liked the most.

Cloud looked over the choices as well, until he saw one that looked rather cute. He picked it up and studied it. It was a cute little giraffe. Blue marble eyes caught the lighting from above, and the fabric it was woven from was soft and sturdy. Little orange strings of yarn made up the little strip of fur jutting out from the back of the stuffed giraffe's long and fat neck. Brown little strings of yarn made up the tip of its' tail, and there was a smile stitched across its' little snout.

"How about this one?" He asked, holding it in front of his little girl.

She squealed loudly and took it into her arms, immediately attached to the thing. Once Denzel and Marlene returned from getting what they wanted, they headed to the front of the store and checked out all of their items. Once this was accomplished, they headed back to the van and loaded up all the sacks of produce into the spacious trunk of the vehicle. As tacky as this minivan was, it was quite a practical little car.

After the groceries were loaded into the van, the children hopped in and buckled up, and Maizy was securely strapped in as well, a big toothless smile on her face as she tightly hugged her new stuffed companion. The drive back was calming and no irresponsible drivers were out on the road. The radio continued to softly play songs through the car, and the humming of the vehicles' engine was near lulling. Cloud drove the minivan back into the storage unit, then shut off the car.

When he turned around to inform the three that they were home, he just stopped and smiled. All three of them had fallen asleep on the quiet drive back. Denzel was resting his head against the window, and his body was pressed against the door. Marlene was slumped against her brother, her head resting against his upper arm as she snoozed. Lastly, Maizy was snuggled down into her carrier, half hugging her giraffe, and half using it as a little cushion to rest the left side of her body ontop of it. It had been quite an adventure for all of them. They all deserved a good rest.

Cloud carried the children in one by one, placing them on the couch as he got the groceries. Tifa was out of the bar at the time, probably out to get some more alcohol, they were getting low on whisky after all. The blonde put all of the groceries in the proper places and released a heavy sigh. He was exhausted after today. How did Tifa have any energy to survive the day after an adventure like that one. Maizy, plus stuffed animal, was removed from the carrier.

He flopped down on the free space of the couch, resting his head against the armrest of the soft material. He let Maizy snooze away on his chest and he closed his eyes, letting sleep take over him.

"Hello! I'm back!" Tifa called just minutes after the group had come home.

She blinked upon hearing silence. The van and Fenrir were back in the unit, so they should still be here. She went to the living room in the back, then smiled brightly. Cloud was passed out on the couch, with Maizy on his chest. Marlene had positioned herself next to him, and Denzel was draped over his stomach just inches below the baby.

She decided to leave them be. They probably had a hectic day.


End file.
